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SIX more schools in North Wales are under threat of closure or merger the Daily Post can reveal.

The schools, all in the Holyhead and Bodedern catchment areas on Anglesey, are named in a consultative document.

Last week hundreds of parents protested at Caernarfon when Gwynedd councillors met to discuss plans to close or merge 29 schools in the county.

The proposals will be discussed by Anglesey council’s executive committee later today.

The six at Llanddeusant, Ffrwd Win, Llanfaethlu, Cylch-y-Garn, Llanrhuddlad, Rhosneigr, Aberffraw and Bryngwran all have fewer than 50 pupils.

There could be more closures on the island when a review on all five catchment areas are completed. A council spokesman stressed no formal recommendations are made in the report.

But it does refer to the possible closure of the schools at Llanddeusant, Ffrwd Win, Llanfaethlu and Cylch-y-Garn, and the creation of an area school.

The report notes pupils at Ysgol Llanddeusant could be accommodated at any one of the three neighbouring schools without increasing the number of pupil places at any of the three schools.

“The same options also apply to Ysgol Ffrwd Win and Ysgol Cylch y Garn but if all pupils transferred to one school it would be necessary to provide additional places to the school that admitted the other pupils,” it notes.

The report adds empty places in the island’s schools cost the education authority £425,000 last year. By 2010 this cost is estimated to rise to £625,000.

John Meirion Davies, portfolio holder for education, said: “We have reached a key stage in the consultation about the future of schools on the island.

“The process will give priority to the needs of the pupils, ensuring that all children receive an education of the highest standards.

“We cannot ignore the possibility that some schools may close as a result of the process.”

In Holyhead the creation of a joint Church in Wales school with the Catholic voluntary school at the Rev Thomas Ellis school is one option being considered.

The closure of a school with more places than Ysgol Morswyn, the Welsh-medium school, is also being considered with pupils from Morswyn transferring to the vacated building.

The council has recognised that rationalisation could lead to the reduction in the number of people employed in the schools and contingency arrangements for redundancy payments have been drawn up.

Director of Education Richard Parry Jones added officers will be looking at each secondary school catchment area in turn.

“There will be a plan for each area and this will be appropriate to each school.